Beach Babe

Done in "Artrage". I really like the textures you can make with this software. It's one of those toys that make me feel like a four year old when I see the "paint" gloop onto the monitor.

Woke up too early and went out on the bike. Seven in the morning is when you see weird men skulking around corners. They have rolling eyeballs and their heads swing back and forth as they glance behind them. The other day I cycled past two men, who without breaking stride, lifted the lids of a rubbish container and dropped two backpacks inside. I was dying to see what they had dumped but decided against it as I was right by the port where the police found five million euros worth of smokey dopey in a boat the other week.

Rain

Incredible rain in Britain. Everything is flooded. Never seen anything quite like it.

It's hot outside

Draw a snowman and feel cooler. Actually, yesterday it was 35 C at six in the evening but today feels completely different. The sky is full of fluffy white clouds and a cool breeze blowing.

The French neighbours over the road who come every summer almost had a fist fight with the German that lives on the next street. His boxer dog bit their oversized dog and wasn't on a lead. Much shouting in many languages. I feel quite paranoid when out with Arthur (who is the size of a cat) and I pick him up when I see dogs the size of Shetland ponies approaching. Why do people want such large beasts? Every summer some dogs lose their owners and you seethe animals tearing through the streets with a glazed panic in their eyes and the lamposts are covered in "Have you seen this doggy?" photos. Heartbreaking..

The President's Watch.

I wonder what happened to it? Perhaps it's on Ebay? I've done a quick Maureen Chlorine cartoon about it this morning and went to post it on the Maureen Comic Strip but the dashboard has vanished. There's a link to the comic page at the bottom of the page.
It is San Juan here in Spain this weekend. The fireworks will start any minute even though it's just past mid- day and broad daylight. The Catalans have a real affinity with fire and poop. No, honestly...look at any painting done by a Catalan!

Maureen Chlorine

Done in Corel Essentials 2 using digital water colours and pencil. I've just accidentally deleted a post so am not going to do it all over again.
The tourists are fighting over parking places. The gentlemen from the other side of the Mediterrenean are setting up rows of baseball caps, sunglasses, copies of designer handbags the size of cement bags and odd things made out of leather that smell funny.
The schools are about to break up for the summer.
All the beach bars are run by Eastern Europeans this year. It's like living in a theater. You never know what language you are going to hear which is great.

Puzzled

The tourists are here in Spain and in full force. They have got to the getting run over stage. I've seen two traffic accidents in two days. It's very hot.

Here's a link to artist Richard Bazley who makes everything look so effortless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0e8PRSIuFY

I'm sixty something days smoke free and I still get the urge to smoke but it's not nearly as bad as it was.

And here's the latest piece I am learning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKpASzMhf5U

Played by David Russell.

Did the illustration in Corel Painter.

Bad Dream Kid

Working in Photoshop here and playing around with inventing my own brushes. As soon as I remember exactly what I did I'll describe how to do it.

There were bulldozers and trucks all over the beach this morning, carting around huge amounts of sand. There were shoals of fish leaping out of the water at the edge of the sea. I've never seen them do that.

One of the morning joggers told me the other day that my daily round trip on the bike is fifteen kilometers. Crikey! Who would have thought?

They are Here

The beach is packed, the streets are packed. The tourists are back.

I was walking Arthur a couple of hours ago when a Dutch, retired riverboat captain inquired how to wake up the German electrician/plumber who lives up the road from me. Why did he tell me that he is a Dutch, retired riverboat captain? He also told me what street he lives on and that he bought his house via the daughter of the people that live at number thirty. But I don't know the people at number thirty. Then he asked if I was Catalan/ German/ Spanish and when I said Scottish, he said "Oh you are English" and switched from talking Spanish into English. Actually, come to think of it, the plumber usually goes away at weekends so he probably wasn't even in his house. I think a retired river captain could have a place in the Maureen Chlorine strip. I think he could be a very good friend of Mad Beach Bob. Could be his brother!

Which reminds me to stop messing around and draw some new Maureens...

Still not smoking. My stomach is starting to hang over anything that gets in its way. Hopefully I'll lose weight when I start swimming. I know you thicken out a bit with age but at this rate I'll have to excercise four hours a day which is NOT going to happen. And if I reach 80 years old I'll be too big to get through doorways. I weighed 100lbs a month ago. I am not going to weigh myself until August!